Paterna de Rivera
Paterna de Rivera is in the very centre of the province of Cádiz , about half an hour's drive from the coast and just 20 minutes drive from the Alcornocales Natural Park. It is located on the A389 Medina Sidonia to Arcos de la Frontera road, about 10km north of Medina and 30km south of Arcos. Paterna (most people drop the 'de Rivera' suffix - it refers to the family name of the founding fathers) is also very handy for the new A381 Jerez - Los Barrios road, making the city of Jerez and its airport reachable in less than half an hour while the rock of Gibraltar and its airport are under an hour's drive away. Sevilla is reachable in around an hour and a quarter and Cádiz in around three quarters of an hour, making Paterna ideally situated as a base to explore the province of Cádiz and further into Andalucía and beyond.
Paterna is at the heart of the famous 'Ruta del Toro' (the Bull Route, tracing a route through the towns famous for rearing the famous Andalucian fighting bulls) and the town celebrates its importance as a bull-raising centre with two bull-running festivals each year, one at Easter and the other during the town fair in June, both of which attract large crowds from all over the province as well as a representation from Pamplona, home of Spain's most famous bull run.
Paterna is most famous as the birthplace of the petenera, a particular style of flamenco song, which, legend has it, originated from the town. There is a monument to La Petenera, the female singer credited with the creation of the petenera, in one of the town squares and the annual national petenera performance competition takes place in the town each summer. Monuments to the most famous performers of the petenera (El Perro de Paterna, El Niño de la Cueva and Rufino de Paterna) are found in some of Paterna's many plazas.
Despite being off the beaten track as far as tourism is concerned, there are many bars and restaurants dotted around town including the excellent El Perro de Paterna in the main town square where you can enjoy many of the local dishes for which Paterna is famous including snails, asparagus and hearty game - favourites are partridge, rabbit and venison. Just bear in mind that you are unlikely to come across any menus in English!
Paterna is close to both the vast Parque Natural de los Alcornocales ('alcornocales' is Spanish for cork trees) and the magnificent Sierra de Grazalema both of which provide many miles of greenery, tranquillity, clean air and country walks of various levels of length and difficulty.
The history of Paterna dates back to 1503 when the de Ribera family, the lords of Alcalá, founded the town and built its first town hall. The town was finally granted independence from Alcalá in 1825 and has had its own mayor and town council ever since. Today the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) is located in the main town square where you will also find the outstanding Nuestra Señora de la Inhiesta parish church which is of Mudejar style with renaissance and gothic elements. Another historic site is the Baños de Gigonza, a medicinal spa dating back to Roman times which is currently being renovated.
- La Romería (Pilgrimage) of San Sebastián, the town's patron saint - mid January
- Carnaval, following on from Cádiz´s world famous carnival - variable but around first week of March
- Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week) - processions & bull running
- Fería (the town fair) with bull running each evening - early June.
- National peteneras singing contest - last two weekends of July. Drawing competitors from across the country, this is one of the most popular flamenco festivals outside of Jerez
- Villa de Paterna, popular Christmas Carol singing competition - December.
